Paris, Portrait of a City leads us through what Goethe described as a "universal city where every step upon a bridge or a square recalls a great past, where a fragment of history is unrolled at the corner of every street." The history of Paris is recounted in photographs ranging from Daguerre's early incunabula to the most recent images - an almost complete record of over a century and a half of transformations and a vast panorama spanning more than 500 pages and 450 photographs. This book brings together the past and the present, the monumental and the everyday, objects and people. Images captured by the most illustrious photographs - Daguerre, Marville, Atget, Lartigue, Brassai, Kertész, Ronis, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson and many more - but also by many unknown photographers, attempt to bottle just a little of that "Parisian air," something of that particular poetry given out by the stones and inhabitants of a constantly changing city that has inspired untold numbers of writers and artists over the ages.

An industry rebel who plays by his own rules, Benedikt Taschen has taken niche publishing to new heights. Insistent on approving every title sold under the Taschen name, the German publisher prides himself on producing quality works-irrespective of cost-that have an identity and soul.